Monday, 17 March 2025 / Published in Customs, Electricity Tax, Environmental Taxes, Excise Duties, International Trade, VAT

Governmental Tax and Customs Annual Plan for 2025

On 17 March, the Tax and Customs Control Plan was published (BOE Resolution of 27 February), which sets out the lines of action and strategies to be carried out by the Tax Agency in 2025 for the effective application of the State tax and customs system

Through this information note we highlight the activities that will be carried out both to prevent and correct tax deviations in the area of indirect taxation (customs, VAT and Excise and Environmental Taxes).

Without prejudice to the above, by way of preamble, we consider it relevant to anticipate the following actions:

Implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Tax Agency will initiate projects to integrate AI in various areas, seeking to increase efficiency in its actions.
Improvements in taxpayer information and assistance: The information and assistance model will be consolidated to ensure that taxpayers receive the best possible assistance, highlighting the implementation of the same-day telephone appointment. New virtual tools will also be developed, such as the Virtual Census Assistant and the Import Informer.
Strategic objectives: The new objectives will focus on strengthening control actions and the prevention of tax and customs fraud in order to encourage voluntary compliance with tax obligations by taxpayers.
Obligations in computerised billing systems: Progress will be made in the implementation of systems that guarantee the integrity and traceability of billing records, highlighting the VERI*FACTU system, which will allow the submission of billing records adapted to a specific format.
Admission of new means of payment: Payments by credit or debit card and via Bizum will be progressively enabled under secure e-commerce conditions for self-assessments, settlements and fees.

Below, we identify the risk profiles and list the control activities that will be subject to verification during the 2025 financial year in the field of customs and indirect taxation:

Customs

Continued improvement of coordination between customs authorities and the development of web services for the exchange of certificates, licenses and authorisations, which will facilitate advance control and reduce the costs of clearance of goods.
The European Union’s customs single window will come into operation, allowing the receipt of certificates, licences and/or authorisations issued by other authorities, which will speed up customs procedures for the release of goods.
Controls on the declared customs value shall be maintained with particular attention to agricultural goods under the entry price system.
VAT-exempt imports to another Member State shall be subject to special controls in order to prevent fraudulent practices and undervaluation of goods.

VAT

Efforts will be made to simplify and clarify the documents issued in audits in order to make them more comprehensible and accessible to taxpayers.
E-commerce will continue to be a priority target for enforcement efforts, further boosted by the recent adoption of the ViDA package.
Controls will be intensified in the framework of taxpayers’ obligations to the Provincial Councils of the Basque Country and the Community of Navarre in order to check the tax rates declared in the different territories and compliance with the different formal obligations.
The fight against organised fraud will continue, with special monitoring and control of taxpayers in the hydrocarbons sector and of intra-Community vehicle sales and purchases.
The verification of refund applications will continue, and inspections will be initiated when, due to the amount or type of these , it is appropriate to carry them out.
Controls will be intensified on compliance with the requirements to be registered the Register of Intra-Community Operators and in the Monthly Refund Register in order to verify that all taxpayers who have accessed these registers comply with the requirements to remain in them.
Checks and investigations will be carried out to control the reduced rate of VAT on services that involve a significant contribution of supplies by the person performing such services.

Excise and Environmental Taxes

Increased control of the use of factories, tax warehouses and tax warehouses in VAT fraud operations, as well as fraudulent operations in other Member States or third countries.
Controls will be intensified on compliance with the requirements to be registered in the Register of Tax Deposit Collectors in order to verify that all taxpayers who have been included in this register meet the requirements to remain in it.
In the field of mineral oil taxation, this will include controls on all those involved in the chain of distribution of mineral oils up to their retail distribution.
In the area of the Tax on Alcohol and Derived Drinks and the Tax on Tobacco Products, controls will be carried out on products under a suspension regime or which enjoy a tax benefit. Likewise, the correct inclusion of products in the objective scope of the tax shall be verified, checking that products which, due to their composition and method of production, should be included in its objective scope, are effectively taxed by the Tax on Alcohol and Derivative Drinks.
In relation to the new Special Tax on electronic cigarettes and other tobacco-related products, actions will focus on the implementation and management of the tax on imports and intra-Community acquisitions of these products, on the registration of the corresponding establishments and on the ordinary management of self-assessments and applications for refunds from these establishments.
In the area of the Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport, control actions will continue to be carried out to ensure the correct declaration of taxable bases and the application of exemptions and cases of non-taxation provided for by law, as well as the correct declaration of the tax rate.
In relation to the excise tax on non-reusable plastic packaging, verification of applications for tax refunds will be intensified and, in relation to the tax on fluorinated gases, the focus will be on the correct application of the deferral system.